Yorkville, Where Hastert Taught, Is Shaken by Charges for ‘Denny’

YORKVILLE, Ill. — For years, J. Dennis Hastert has been the pride of this small city. There may not be a bronze statue in his honor, but that would be counter to what people here have most admired about Mr. Hastert: that someone who once wielded so much power could also be so ordinary, so much like them, so Yorkville.

Nearly everyone has a story of seeing Mr. Hastert, a Republican who was the speaker of the House of Representatives for eight years. He would be sitting with everyone else in the McDonald’s here, browsing in a store or eating at the greasy diner, even as his security detail stood nearby.

Mr. Hastert worked at Yorkville High School for 16 years, as a teacher and wrestling coach. So the news that he was charged with federal crimes left many here reeling — not just from the shock, but also over what the indictment might mean for Yorkville, which some residents see as virtually defined by the former congressman.

“He was really big, really important to this place,” Ken Diehl, 65, a retired teacher, said as he gazed at the Fox River from a park bench. “I would call him an icon.”

Mr. Hastert paid a former student hundreds of thousands of dollars to not say publicly that he was sexually abused by Mr. Hastert decades ago, according to two people briefed on the evidence uncovered in an F.B.I. investigation. The two people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified as discussing a federal investigation.

The federal indictment, which was announced on Thursday, says that as Mr. Hastert made cash withdrawals totaling $1.7 million, some of the transactions evaded banking regulations. The indictment also says he lied to federal authorities about those withdrawals. Mr. Hastert has not responded publicly to the charges.

Fifty miles southwest of Chicago, the United City of Yorkville is a mix of corn and soybean fields and strip malls. Unable to afford desirable housing in suburbs closer to Chicago, young people come here and find bigger, less expensive homes and lush parks that sit alongside working farms.

Like the towns around it, Yorkville has been trying to sort out its identity in recent years. The city’s population has more than doubled since 2000, to about 17,000. Some people had predicted that it would grow even faster, but the national recession hit Yorkville hard. Residential developments went unfinished, and shuttered storefronts speckled the main downtown block.

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Mr. Hastert in 1971.

But as Yorkville, a mostly white, conservative community, contended with change, some things seemed constant. Among them: that Mr. Hastert — whom people here are quick to describe as having once been the third most powerful person in the government, second in line for succession to the presidency — remained “just Denny.” He was still the unassuming, slightly hunched fellow whose parents used to run the feed supply business, the guy who painted duck decoys as a hobby, the coach remembered for bringing home a state wrestling championship almost 40 years ago, someone who seemed so grounded that, even when he was at the height of his power, people would walk right up to him.

“Everybody’s a little shocked,” Rick Tollefson said Friday night inside the crowded Barley Fork, a restaurant that he and his wife opened this year in an 1870s-era building in the heart of Yorkville.

“I guess this whole thing will have to just play out,” Mr. Tollefson said. “We don’t know what the truth is. Nobody does yet.”

When federal prosecutors announced the indictment against Mr. Hastert, television news trucks began arriving here, and some residents called city officials to complain. Controversy tends to be fairly tame in Yorkville. A recent political fight involved construction of a sports dome for children with special needs and whether it should be permitted on an old cornfield.

Mr. Hastert, who joined a Washington lobbying firm in 2008, has not been spotted around here lately. He still owns a house in nearby Plano, but he has not taught at Yorkville High School since 1981. Over the years, though, Mr. Hastert and his family were a steady presence, and nearly everyone here had a connection — an aunt who learned history from Mr. Hastert or a son who wrestled on his team.

“That was the thing about him,” said Marty Kermeen, 58, who makes stone labyrinths. “It wasn’t like Jon Bon Jovi rolled up. People wouldn’t be asking him for signatures or anything. He was the wrestling coach in town. And he did well for himself. You’re the third most important person in the world, and I think everyone had a respect for him, or has a respect. We’re proud of him, and we’re sad about this.”

Joel Frieders, a member of the Yorkville City Council, dismissed suggestions he had heard from some residents that the city might be blemished by the indictment. Mr. Frieders, 35, said younger Yorkville residents were barely aware of Mr. Hastert, 73, who retired from Congress in 2007. Besides, he said, the city has another famous son. Andy Richter, the sidekick on Conan O’Brien’s late night television show, was a prom king at Yorkville High School, Mr. Frieders said.

“I don’t see this whole issue as being a huge bruise on Yorkville,” Mr. Frieders added. “This is a great place to live. Things are happening here. People just aren’t used to getting attention for anything.”

Alicia Lingane, 35, moved her growing family here not long ago from a suburb closer to Chicago. Even before she really knew where this city was, Ms. Lingane said, she was aware that it had been Mr. Hastert’s home.

“There’s nobody else,” she said. “I don’t think this is really a blow for Yorkville, but it can’t help.”